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Topics - Vir

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1
General Discussion / Some IZJS resources
« on: 2017-07-28 21:13:31 »
Here is a spreadsheet with data comparing how characters and classes perform, especially endgame: https://goo.gl/zuXsbA

Here is a spreadsheet which calculates attack time: https://goo.gl/Ct1u5s

Here is a chart showing what cures what status ailments: https://goo.gl/sjW8hF

Here is a party-planner spreadsheet for IZJS: https://goo.gl/bm7iwq

2
General Discussion / FF8 Missables List
« on: 2017-07-28 19:47:19 »
Hello. I hope this may be helpful. It's not scarce information anymore, but I would be happy to keep it somewhere. Thanks.

This thread aims to list everything significant which you could miss permanently and many things you could miss for a long while. At this time, "significance" is assumed for the following: sidequests/their segments/their effects, GFs, missable menu sections (eg, Information entries or Reports), scenes which have falsifiable significance end-game or missable FMVs attached, magazines (most of which are only "missable for a long while"), items which cannot be replaced, subquests, and extremely-valuable-if-technically-replaceable stat-maxing opportunities.

Since this list includes many items which are not strictly "lost-forevers," and some readers may prefer a yet-stricter list, items of irreparable, non-scene-like loss (in the American release and assuming no Chocobo World) are bolded.

Other things which may be missable under some definitions, like the non-unique items in the Prison and many scenes, have been left out for practical reasons of balancing the list's thoroughness and bloat. Cards receive little treatment, but the list covers keeping all cards at least available on D4. If someone wants to make a missable scenes guide, they would be well served to look at this topic's source topic as well as Version One's source topic (follow the chain of links starting with the source link below).

Incidentally, you hazard missing Tutorial/Information entries ("Terms") if you only follow the walkthroughs on GameFAQS.


Editor/Contributor credits: GameFAQs users Arkane Denial, Kyote, Moomba33, psxqwerty9999, _Red___XIII_, shimatani87, The_Kusabi_, Vilurum, xZantetsuken. Thanks. Thanks to the GameFAQs guide writers whom we have referenced as well.

LIST

DISC 1


1. SCENE: Zell's Love Quest (ZLQ) 1: Speak to the Library girls before the Fire Cavern. There are quite a few scenes in this sidequest, but other than the one you can do as Irvine, none of them need necessarily be done in the suggested timeframe. You could, for example, put them off until after other plot points than those suggested as long as you have enough plot points to move the scenes forward to your satisfaction. They always come in the same order, however (Irvine exception already noted). If you have any questions about these ZLQ entries, see my source: <http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/197343-final-fantasy-viii/47165843>;. Item-wise, if not story-wise, you only have to do one total to resolve the quest, so rather than listing each first opportunity for a scene as in Ver. 1 as an entry, we will have a [ZLQ] marker to show that before the next missable entry is a potential scene. Refer to Ver. 1 or the above link for more detail.

2. GF: Siren: Draw from Elvoret. You can also drawn her from Tri-Point in the final dungeon. In the Japanese release, no GFs are available in the final dungeon.

3. SCENE: X-ATM092: Whether you decide to have Squall & co. destroy X-ATM092 in battle or to have Quistis destroy it with her giant machine gun is marked and verifiable through the end of Disc 3. If you prefer Quistis to destroy it and see the optional FMV to that effect, this will be marked by the robot's remains remaining on the Dollet beach. A lack of such remains will mark that you destroyed it in battle. The choice is of no necessary significance, but you may now make it purposefully.

4. SCENE: Timber Maniacs 1: There are thirteen of these magazines and an entry from Centra Ruins. The two in Balamb are mutually exclusive, therefore you may pick up twelve TM issues total and get thirteen diary entries after adding Centra. None of the magazines are actual Item menu items. When you pick the magazines up, they disappear, and your having found them is noted in Selphie's Diary (which, being on the Squall's classroom computer, cannot be checked on Disc 4), with one exception forthcoming. There are two magazines in Balamb at this point, and you may pick one of them. Pick the one at the train station and Selphie will write about alcohol; pick the one at the Balamb hotel and Laguna will pass out drunk while visiting Julia but you will get no Diary entry and have fewer total. Basically, both options are but tiny tidbits, both options are invisible in the end, and both options are legitimate steps to finishing this sidequest, so neither is less missable or less perfect. See this topic for an accessible list of all TM entries: http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/197343-final-fantasy-viii/50789263 . You may like to keep your own list on this, or leave them be until Disc 3, because I will not direct you to each one individually.

5. REPORT: Battle Report: Talk to Cid at your SeeD promotion before leaving for the dance, or else before leaving for Timber. You can forget the other reports if you miss this.

6. ITEM: Weapons Mon Apr: Check Squall's dresser after the Dollet Mission. Presumably this would stick around until the end of Disc 3. I am noting these magazines not because you could never get another of each in most cases (Occult Fans III and IV are unique, though), but because the game drops them in your lap more or less in sequence, and you many will like to get them as soon as they may. [ZLQ]

7. ITEM: Magical Lamp: Talk to Cid before leaving for Timber. This is the only way to get the GF Diablos without Chocobo World. [ZLQ]

8. ITEM: Pet Pals Vol.2: Get this from Rinoa's bed before leaving the Owls' train. Pet Pals Vol.1 you got automatically, Pet Pals Vol.3-4 you can purchase at Timber's pet shop, and Pet Pals Vol.5-6 I will mention later.

9. TERM: Timber Maniacs: I'm not 100% sure that this is missable, but enter the TM building while in Timber and it won't matter. I imagine you can do this right up until ending Disc 3.

10. ITEM: Girl Next Door: Pick this up in the TM building before Disc 4. This is unique, so you may not want to give it away (perhaps not even when Zone asks for it). If you consider trading it for the Shiva card, consider that Shiva is not missable or even limited-quantity. Girl Next Door is available in Chocobo World.

11. ITEM: Pet Nametag #1 of 2: Return to Timber once you get out and encourage the man outside Timber Maniacs; then come back on Disc 2. (I'll remind you.) You could get more than two if you had Chocobo World.

12. SHENANIGAN: Laguna Pandora 1: When Laguna's lost with the Esthar soldiers: find the first Old Key, loosen the middle lever, loosen the right lever, loosen the left lever, find the second Old Key, hit the red switch, hit the blue switch, push the boulder. See Absolute Steve's walkthrough's section {6} for details.

13. ITEM: Weapons Mon May: Go down the manhole before scaling the Presidential Manor. You can come back for this until the end of Disc 3 by returning to Caraway's house and navigating the sewers again.

14. GF: Carbuncle: Draw from Iguion. You can get it from Krysta in the final dungeon.

DISC 2

15. TERM: Eyes On Me:
Ask Kiros about Julia during Laguna's Winhill sequence. It's one of the options while the two of you are reuniting and before going on patrol.

16. REPORT: Character Report: Win this from the card player on Floor 10 of the Prison. I suppose your last chance is when heading upstairs again after Irvine arrives.

17. ITEM: Pet Nametag #2 of 2: Found on Floor 2 of the Prison.

18. ITEM: Combat King 001: Found on Floor 1 of the Prison.

19. SCENE: Friends at the Garden: Bring Rinoa along when choosing the Warn the Garden Team in order to see an extra FMV; you can also hang out with Rinoa (as opposed to no one) before meeting NORG if she's along. If you don't bring Rinoa, but do bring Zell, you can see a short sequence with him instead (this being after the White SeeD Ship has left). If you don't bring either Zell or Rinoa, you hang out with Quistis briefly after the White SeeD bit. Note that, regardless of the above, if you bring Zell to the Library during the Garden Master fracas, the scene and reward will change. [ZLQ: visit without Zell, if possible]

20. GF: Leviathan: Draw from NORG. Can get it from Trauma later.

21. ITEM: Occult Fan III: Look up the Master Fisherman quest AS SOON AS YOU CRASH INTO FH. Split Infinity's section SM#12 is easy to access. Note that the Master Fisherman sidequest has two parts, the former, leading to the unique Occult Fan III, being available immediately and the latter, leading to a Megalixir, being available after the BGH251F2 battle. [ZLQ: visit as Irvine]

22. SCENE: Ward in Trabia Canyon: After the Garden becomes mobile, you have access to the Timber Maniacs magazine in Shumi Village. If you read that before the Laguna movie sequence, Ward won't be in your party during the same. What's the difference? See http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/197343-final-fantasy-viii/52309624 .

12. ITEM: Pet Nametag #1 of 2: Go back to Timber and speak with the man whom you encouraged. You may be able to do this as late as Disc 3, but do it on Disc 2 to be safe. [ZLQ]

23. GF: Pandemona: Draw from Fujin. Can get it from Red Giant later. [ZLQ: can now be ended any time]

24. ITEM: Weapons Mon Aug: Found in Trabia. Trabia's open until the end of Disc 3. [ZLQ]

25. GF: Cerberus: Defeat it in Galbadia Garden. Can draw it from Gargantua later.

26. GF: Doomtrain: You cannot get him till later, but you can never get him if you miss Alexander and don't have access to Chocobo World. That means his Term is missable too.

27. GF: Alexander: Draw from Edea at Galbadia Garden. Can get it from Catoblepas later.

DISC 3

28. ITEM: Combat King 003 and ZLQ Conclusion: You have had chances enough for eight scenes up to this point, and here is a chance for a ninth, in which you should hear that someone is looking for Zell. Regardless, having taken Zell to the Library at least once, go to Balamb and talk to the people near whichever entrance you used. They should have news for Zell. Next see Zell's mom, then stay at the Hotel.

29.TERM: Esthar (1): Talk to Edea at the Orphanage until she mentions Adel; this would generally be part of the mandatory visit you make there, but it's possible to leave without doing it. Adel's name appears in yellow, so it's easy to notice. You must talk to her until you see Adel's name in yellow before punching the wall.

30. TERM: Esthar (2): Same as 'Esthar (1).'

31. TERM: Time Compression: Talk to Cid when you're there learning about the Esthar terms. The timeframe here approaches Disc 4, if I recall correctly from reports of people claiming you needed to do it after visiting Esthar (which you don't, necessarily). There has been some talk about getting this term and 'The Great Hyne' from Esthar, or from Laguna, or from the White SeeD ship. I can't speak to the former two, but I advise you get these from Cid. I do not believe the White SeeD ship has anything to do with it all, though.

32. TERM: The Great Hyne: As 'Time Compression.'

33. ITEM: Timber Maniacs 12: Found on the White SeeD Ship; better get it before leaving for Esthar. Again, these magazines are not proper items, and the only way to verify that you got it is through Selphie's online diary (which can't be done on Disc 4 anyway).

34. ITEM: Weapons Mon 1st: Found during the last Laguna sequence (working in Esthar). See Absolute Steve {18}.

35. ITEM: Occult Fan IV: Pick up after the Esthar Presidential Secretary. See Split Infinity's section SM#19A.

36. ITEM: Combat King 4: Talk to a certain Esthar Soldier before leaving for the Lunar Gate. Talk to a certain Esthar Soldier before crashing into the Lunatic Pandora. See Split Infinity's sections SM#19A and SM#20.

37. CARD: Chances at all, except PuPu: Beat the CC Group sidequest before finishing Disc 3. Doing so will allow you to get any card (except PuPu) as many times as you like (though you may only hold one of each rare card at at time) on Disc 4. Check out section {OPT-8} in Absolute Steve's guide.

38. REPORT: GF Report: Beat the CC Joker at cards. You need to do this sometime between mobilizing Balamb Garden and finishing Disc 3.

39. CARD: Queen of Cards': If you want to complete her quest and get her cards before Disc 4, then do so. See http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/197343-final-fantasy-viii/53021144 and/or {OPT-9} in Absolute Steve's guide.

40. CARD: Pupu Card: Finish the PuPu sidequest by giving it 5 Elixirs. Do not lose this card. This is the only absolutely unique card in the game. Getting the card the first time is not missable; you just can't get another.

41. TERM: Shumi Tribe: Ride the Shumis' elevator. You cannot get at the elevator after Disc 3. Why don't you do the Shumi Village Quest ({OPT-5} in Absolute Steve's guide) while you're here? (Because this is its entry too.)

42. SHOP: Any you want available through your menu on Disc 4: Visit them before Disc 4. Absolute Steve {INF-5} has a full list, but his 'Trabia Shop' can only be opened by hacking. Note that some magazines will be missable if you lose access to some of the shops (i.e., Pet Pals Vol.3-6 and any magazine that you did not find).

43. ITEM: Various sidequest items not available on Disc 4: For sidequest stuff not explicitly covered here, see Absolute Steve's sections {OPT-2}, {OPT-4}, {OPT-10}, and parts of {OPT-17}. None of this is unique, except the sidequests themselves. Take a moment here and remember the TM Magazines list I cited at the top of the list.

CHOCOBO WORLD

Power Up 1:
There is only one missable within all of the Chocobo World minigame. No other items and Boco's later Power Ups have limited availability. The Event setting must be set at Event Wait On before the first encounter dot is reached after reaching Level 50. If set to Off, this Power Up will be missed permanently. If this first Power Up is missed, then all later Power Ups will be unobtainable as well.~The_Kusabi_

Terms Ribbon and Mini Mog are only available in Chocobo World as are items Friendship and Chocobo's Tag. Certain items which are missables in FF8 are not missable in Chocobo World. Pet Nametags, Magical Lamps, Solomon Rings, Girl Next Door magazines, Hungry Cookpots are notable examples. See Saint's guide, http://www.gamefaqs.com/ps/197343-final-fantasy-viii/faqs/6615 .

3
FF9 Gameplay Releases / [PSX/PC] Fixed Stats Mod
« on: 2016-01-18 06:11:46 »
PPFs for NTSC PS version and .hws files for Steam and for making PAL versions' PPFs:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B_iQt93JXScud0NpUlZsaC1pWkU?resourcekey=0-ZOAG8bT1e4kBYniPiI1hrA&usp=sharing

Warning to Steam users: to use the mod for Steam, you need to import the .hws file using Hades Workshop and untick the "including texts" options when you do it.

In FF9, stat growth works by accumulating fractions of stat gains from each level gained with stat-boosting equipment on. The best stat-boosting equipment comes later in the game, so over the years interesting challenges and questions have developed about what combinations of gear "maximize" stats in what way for each character. Though the informed player will be over-powered in gameplay regardless of his stats or even his level, over time I've seen some folks wish they could just battle and gain levels normally during the game without the tinge that they do so giving up stat potential. This mod cuts out the variation in stat growth by confining and normalizing stat bonuses to each class of weapons (which slot no character can empty).

Suffice to say characters will grow into the kind of max stats any perfectionist would want. Wall of specifics under the spoilers.

Spoiler: show
All weapons either have fighter bonuses or mage bonuses. The unusually large stat bonuses on weapons will not overpower the party too much until endgame because I subtracted their bonuses from each character's base stats. Characters will start the game with their base stats, and while they won't get temporary +whole numbers from gear, their stats will grow more uniformly and somewhat faster. In this way, you can't tell the character from the character+weapon, so I effectively only changed the stat growth rate. Note: for complicated enough reasons, I recommend not allowing temporary members Blank and Marcus to level, or else following the steps at bottom to set Amarant and Eiko (respectively) right later; elsewise, it'll throw your stats off.

This approach also keeps the characters' relative stat strengths in tact. The only differences bigger than +/-2 compared to mixed-gear-bonus ordered totals are the following. Firstly, Vivi, Freya, Quina and Amarant didn't have stat weapons, but since they now grow uniformly based on their personal base stats, their key stats are much higher. Again, they fall into the same ranking they did naturally, independent of whatever gear is available to them Secondly, I didn't mimic the +Mag Steiner and Freya had, so their Mag is more comparable to Zidane's and Amarant's than to Quina's now. This all balances the characters' personalized natural stats with the maxes that the game already made possible.

To answer the difficulties with Spirit, the most desirable and main max-able stat, I gave everyone the same Spirit growth. I settled on the bonus value that gets almost everybody to 50 by lv99. They don't have too high Spr for most of the game because, again, I subtracted the weapon's bonus from their base stats. Characters who boast naturally higher Spirit get to max earlier; the less spirited don't have that advantage, but get there by lv97 at latest (Amarant). Only Quina doesn't get to 50, but the growth that would be needed for that would make others max Spr unreasonably early (like lv64). Singling Quina out for a bigger bonus would negate others' having higher Spr in their particular strengths and weaknesses.

Quina gets to 46, and whoever prefers round numbers to characterization just needs to level up some with some of the Hawaiian set. I am putting +4 Spr on each of the four Hawaiian items. The exact number of additional SprBonus Quina needs to get to 50 is 114, so all four pieces for 8 levels (114/(4+4+4+4)=7.125 levels needed) is the shortest route. Even going through the whole game not caring about stats or levels, it shouldn't be hard to get the Hawaiian gear and remember to put it on at least before passing Quina's lv91. In case you need other gear on to level Quina for some reason, other combinations of +4 accumulating over levels and summing at least 114 will also work. Using the otherwise useless Hawaiian gear is a good way to enable all 50s for Spr without worrying folks about their gear (the point of this mod) or tampering with the characters' natural strengths, weaknesses, and growth.

On another note, I chose Magic-ordered Quina because taking the approach described above to its numbers fits in 100% perfectly with the party's natural Str and Mag rankings.




Numeric information available on the last sheet of my other mod's documentation:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1bQaj0zRxfw6l-nkJRXMssWN9ZosvTZdpm_fVKEnaE0c/edit?usp=sharing



If you do not want to play a lv1 game, or if you leveled Blank or Marcus, then Freya, Quina, Eiko, and Amarant will join at levels higher than 1. The characters who actually had to "level" will have been accumulating stat bonuses from their weapons,  while these characters will start behind (or ahead in Marcus/Eiko's case) in that accumulation. But with a save editor you can just set this stat bonus to whatever you want, and then, when the character levels up again, the game will act like they got that bonus naturally. You could put in the correct max bonus at lv98, if you wanted to, and it'd jump your stats from base to max in one go. Max Magic Stones will still benefit from a lv1 game.

In this mod, since all weapons are the same for each fighter/mage, every character gains each stat bonus/growth at the same rate per level. When levels are the same, too, every fighter/mage should have the exact same stat bonuses. Their different starting points, their base stats, account for the difference between characters. GameFAQs user MadJak91 points out how you can easily use these facts to set their stats "right" using the save editor Memoria to set equal their stat bonuses.

1. When Freya or Amarant joins, save when the new member is the same level as Zidane.
2. Open this save in Memoria and on Zidane's "Misc." tab, note down the numbers for the Str, Mag, and Spr pools. Spd won't have anything in it.
3. Put these numbers into the appropriate pools on the new member's "Misc." tab.
4. Level up to recalculate. Every warrior should have he same bonus values at the same level. If the level and the bonus values are the same as a Vivi's, the character's stats are correct.

1. When Quina or Eiko joins, save when the new member is the same level as Vivi.
2. Open this save in Memoria and on Vivi's "Misc." tab, note down the numbers for the Str, Mag, and Spr pools. Spd won't have anything in it.
3. Put these numbers into the appropriate pools on the new member's "Misc." tab.
4. Level up to recalculate. Every mage should have he same bonus values at the same level. If the level and the bonus values are the same as a Vivi's, the character's stats are correct.

4
Updated 8/18/16: uploaded BaconCatBug's Steam release of FF9.2.2.

Vir did this? Yea... so who helped him?
  • Thanks to Tirlititi--who seems to me to be really a worthy Qhimm user in that his tool Hades Workshop was easy to use and he has replied to numerous questions for me promptly, and volunteered useful feedback.
  • Thanks also to GameFAQs users aladore384 and Atomos199, for their persistent feedback and error-finding. Their questioning my logic made me explain and understand it better. Also, if they hadn't been responding, there wouldn't have been much response, and I would have gone away thinking I must have scrambled the toast somehow ^^
  • Thanks to (GameFAQs users, all of these) BronzeStuff, XtraT, monkeyslinger, Pibugo, and terran3999999 for their repeated inputs.
  • Thanks to Pibugo for saying he liked what I was doing.
  • Thanks MarquisOndore, ertfert, IllusionGamer90, and others for contributing to a discussion of m.stone balance, which I used. WhPlague sparked and inadvertently contributed to this discussion: thanks. M.O. and Atomos brought up the suggestion of adding detail to support ability tooltips, which I did.
  • Thanks to m'lady for sitting listening to a mess of arcane game mechanical algebra to help me figure out... something... well, it was important we knew what it was at that time, anyway. And we solved it! *Also, she told me repeatedly to do iterative testing and I did not do it at all ever so if anything's broken it is not her fault and she told me so. She insisted on and dictated *this addition.
  • Thanks to LandonRay, from whose Unleashed mod Tirlititi got his suggestion to just make Six Dragons single target. I eventually took this advice. Fair dues to LandonRay for thinking of it first. (Also if anyone has a really good idea for another use of this ability slot, let me know!)
  • Thanks Advent on ID for prompting me to clarify what I mean by "balance" so downloaders don't spend time under a misconception.
  • GameFAQs' Zaltera discovered a couple errors in my change log, provided feedback on just about every aspect of the mod, tested to make sure Float didn't increase Wind-damage, and has otherwise been helping by play testing all the way to 99. Many thanks!
  • GameFAQs' pjng99 and YouTube's ng family brought to GameFAQs' attention a typo. I did not search exhaustively, but as far as I know it may have never been brought to light before. The Hot & Cold exchange gives you Phoenix Pinions, not Phoenix Down. Tirlititi confirms this is correctly listed in other translations. I fixed it in this one.
  • Thanks to awesomeuno for feedback and for his inquiries with monkeyslinger revealing that I'd made an error in calculating Amarant's max stats. Thanks to him, we also have max stat setups for ordered-without-final-equipment and combined stats. Check the GameFAQs thread to see if he's posted them or contact him there; I didn't do any work on them, so I haven't taken the liberty to redistribute them.
  • Thanks monkeyslinger for working out those setups mentioned above and for helping proving via computer-checking that the setups I have in this version 2.21 will be final. Human re-re-checking was not good enough.
  • Thanks to Kivikaki's interest in a German version, I wrote up a guide (must be post 13 or so) for what text one would have to change to put the mod in other languages. Also, I would not have noticed the Brave Suit thing without his post.
  • Thanks to Zara9 and Covarr for tips to improve the download accessibility.
  • Kivikaki contributed a German language translation (for the German PAL FF9).
  • BaconCatBug recreated the mod for Steam/PC and wrote instructions for how to use such.

What's this mod?
The first version of this mod was my attempt to correct some small inequities (e.g., why ever use Kain's Lance if you have Dragon's Hair?), nuisances (removed forced exp.), and the Thunder Slash bug without changing the over all balance of FF9. This version got taken down at 2.2 because it also contained the error which 2.2 corrected and I didn't see updating them both. Its changes are still color coded light blue in the change log below, because why not.

This, the second version, includes the first version changes, but takes on less conservative goals, too. FF9.2, here, is my attempt to improve the balance of FF9, making all active and support abilities comparatively viable after their function, systematizing their costs to be less arbitrary, and leveling off most of the most exploitable abilities.

This is not a difficulty mod: a difficulty mod changes the balance between the players' resources and the monsters' resources. I have touched monsters very little. Under my changes, the game should be slightly more difficult. It shouldn't be less difficult, or you need to let me know. But difficulty was not a goal and any new difficulty doesn't spring from my making it "hard" to kill monsters in a few hits like in vanilla FF9. The balance in my goals was balance within the PCs' resources. Any new difficulty comes from there being a more reasonable cost in MP and M.Stones to playing that simple, high offense strategy. At the same time, other tactics are more viable because I've priced status effects and other not-big-damage moves reasonably, too (I hope!), so if there remains an incentive to just press Attack all the time, that was Square. But that incentive is smaller. That was me.

It's possible (no way to know) I'll also boost monsters in the future. If I do, it'll probably only be D4 randoms, because I'll still want this mod to be viable for persons like me who want to play the rest of the game in a traditional E2PG or Slow E2PG style. But this part of it wouldn't be done so fast (took me about a week, which I had off) or now if I had been more ambitious :)

What're the details?
I believe I have documented everything I did in a rather extensive--and orange--change log. It is in a google doc along with other working sheets, which are not guaranteed legible like the change log. You can't see the notes in google's preview, but you should be able to open it as a spreadsheet (as intended).

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1bQaj0zRxfw6l-nkJRXMssWN9ZosvTZdpm_fVKEnaE0c/edit?pli=1#gid=330958072

In addition to saying what changed, how it is now, what it was before, and a summary of why, I have made extensive notes to various cells explaining reasoning, advantage, and so forth. The wall of text which was here explaining my first version is there, distributed among various first version (blue text) notes.

Is it compatible with the Excalibur 2 Perfect Game?
That was my intention and I do believe it is so, yes.

If you find any little thing that I have not successfully anticipated that interferes seriously with the E2PG, let me know! I will make a new version of the mod as quick as I can and release it to you. Your save will adjust with the changes and work and you should be fine.

In fact,  please note that for various reasons I insisted my finished work the remain compatible with the Excalibur II Perfect Game as described by that Odysseus of Perfect Game Writers, Atomos199. (It's been 10 years now, right?) For the sake of compatibility with the E2PG, the abilities Night and Charge! are still relatively broken. But if I have done at all well balancing everything else, their broken edge is duller.


Overview:
Rebalanced all abilities' MP and Magic Stone costs, power and other attributes as appropriate, relating to approximately how many offensively- and defensively-spent turns they are worth.

To maintain compatibility with E2PG support ability combos, magic stones are balanced around higher numbers. You will have 45 instead of 14-18 at lv1, each ability will cost perhaps 8 instead of 4, and you will have 99 at max level instead of 68-72. The combinations that took up all your stones at lv1 before will do just that, but the points will be distributed between those abilities in a way that better reflects their relative power. Also, since the max will be 99, that "max stat" will be rounder and the cost of each ability happens to be the percent of your total you're investing there. Note that exactly as in the original game, characters joining at levels higher than one will wind up with lower stats (including total M. Stones) than had they joined at lv1. That's just how FF9 works. If you like the round numbers but don't want to play a lv1 game through Amarant, look at it that if you get any round numbers, it's more than you got in vanilla.

Removal of forced exp. and addition of stat weapons for four characters who had none rebalanced perfect stats in a more intuitive way. (Though they're nothing different to the extent other things have changed: e.g., Amarant isn't 10% weaker than Zidane, Vivi can get as high Mag as Eiko; nothing radical.) All E2PG setups are still sound: only there are +str/mag weapons to equip with those setups for characters who had no stat weapon before. Since it's only +Str/Mag, which do not cap, on those weapons, it does not change the gear/level setups.

All abilities aim to be more attractive in the right scenario (as far as I can do in Hades Workshop and without yet altering enemies), where in the original many abilities were too inaccurate or underpowered to be worth using.  Examples to this end:

  • Comet did random damage, you couldn't raise the minimum, and it had a 33% chance to miss entirely. Why use it over a more reliable spell? Well, now perhaps because it has a(n overall) 30% chance to cause Freeze, as well.
  • Demi, Aqua Breath, and Demi Shock all did fairly low percent-based damage, if they hit. Now, they each have a niche within that function now: e.g., Aqua Breath is cheap and always hits for 25% damage, Demi Shock has a 60% chance to hit for 50% at a higher price. I knew the fair price by making sure they had the same MP efficiency. Also, pro tip: Demi (30% max HP) works and always worked with Reflectx2 (i.e., 60% max HP, as many times as you reflect it).
  • Dragon's Crest has the same MP cost as Shock (48), since they're both pretty much 9999 buttons. Shock's cost comes from a standard price per Atk bonus.
  • Soul Blade inflicts a status based on your thief sword. It's well to use it with Ultima Weapon: 100% chance to sleep an enemy. I put it at 12 MP. If it always did sleep throughout the game, I'd have given it a higher cost, but it doesn't and wouldn't be worthwhile at some weapons. I believe it balances well even at end-game, though, because when you're thinking of using Zidane for a status, you must be balancing it against Annoy (useful against groups), which my system rates at 12 MP for a 75% chance. Further, even at high level, you won't inevitably have Ultima Weapon on anymore, because I made The Tower an elemental sidegrade. Finally, any  small advantage it does have in MP efficiency due to these complexities is outweighed, to my priorities, because without the no-brainer choice of 9999 Thievery for 8 MP, you're now thinking about tradeoffs instead of having no real incentive except hit 'em again.
  • Roulette was very underwhelming because you normally had a larger party than your foe: it was probably going to kill one of you for the cost of your MP. The above is still true, but the spell is now cheap so if Quina is in a 1v1 emergency (the situation appropriate to its function), it will be available and worthwhile.

More nuances if you want to check out the change log for a while.



Fine. Give us the goods.
Download at:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B_iQt93JXScuU2txQjlVUi1BdU0?resourcekey=0-ua21juzJT-kHryg9aRBgbA&usp=sharing .

There are instructions there. BaconCatBug's Steam/PC version and Kivikaki's PSX German version have their own folders there.

Please feel free to offer feedback. Also, there was a lot of data-inputting between calculating, re-calculating, updating change log, updating Hades Workshop, re-calculating... I tried to double- and triple-check everything, but please show me my errors.


Updates:
  • 8/18/16-BaconCatBug from Qhimm here took on making the Steam/PC version and its accompanying instructions, which is now released.
  • 3/11/15-Writing up what all text should be changed to translate the mod, I noticed Brave Suit still had its vanilla description. Fixed.
  • 10/28 to 10/30/14-Turned out that a computer could (and did) use my Avenger change to manipulate spare remainders of fractions to max Spirit faster and then push Strength even higher than Amarant's previous max stat setups suggested. I had not anticipated this possibility. We have adjusted to this. See post #10 if you have a previous version and are concerned about Amarant's Strength.
  • 10/2/14-Fixed Hot & Cold's erroneous advertising exchange of Phoenix Downs rather than Phoenix Pinions (which it gives).
  • 9/18 to 9/24/14-Ranted continually on GameFAQs about work on a second version until this became so tiresome that magical trolls appeared in the world and produced the work on my computer to shut me up.
  • 7/12/14-simply uploaded new patches since Hades Workshop can now do the tooltip text for my changes like the game does, e.g., Elem Atk: Wind. If there were anyone using this mod, they could use this patch on some clean ISOs and keep playing the same saves no problem.
  • 7/17/14-on the GameFAQs message board, aladore384 (crediting a French user called spdf) observed that no Physical Attacks have elements and further that Thunder Slash didn't do Thunder damage as a Physical Attack. So I changed it to a Magic Weapon attack: it does Thunder damage now for certain. A Magic Weapon attack is like Cherry Blossom and Climhazzard, opposing MDef instead of Def.
  • 7/18/14-added thanks section.

5
Gameplay / ARMs's damage limit mod for NTSC PSX
« on: 2012-05-06 20:21:36 »
Hello, I was looking at PSX mods and was interested in ARMs's Damage Limit mod for NTSC PSX.

Here is its topic: <http://forums.qhimm.com/index.php?topic=7130.0>.

It appears both links in that topic are down. I was wondering if I could trouble anyone who has the file to share it.

Thanks  :-)

Edit: Also, could I go ahead and start a game now, then patch the ISO when I get the patch? Or would that negate my earlier saves?

6
General Discussion / Where is it saving?
« on: 2010-09-27 09:41:31 »
The folder in my FF7 directory does not contain the saves which I make in the game. I assume this has something to do either with one of my mods: Avalanche Low Res and the PRP. Of course I don't know that that's the case, but the point is I can't find the files and I'd be much obliged for help in doing so.

Forgot to mention that I'm running Vista, and I think it's 32 bit.

Thank you.

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